Here is the last installment of a brief list of artists who died while performing onstage.

The Italian electronic artist Brandbug died of a heart attack behind the decks in November 2016.

In 2017, the former drummer for Boston, Sib Hanshian, was performing on a Legends of Rock cruise when he died onstage.

Barbara Weldens was a French singer known for performing barefoot. On September 2017, she stepped on a faulty cable onstage during a gig in a church and was electrocuted.

And how’s this for way to go: Three members of an Indonesian rock band called Seventeen died in December 2018 when, during a performance on a beach, were swept out to sea by a sudden tsunami.

© 2025 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

I’ll admit that this is kind of obscure, but it was one of the songs I played on the overnight show when I first joined CFNY in the old Spirit of Radio days. I’d never heard of Spear of Destiny and its leader Kirk Brandon. Four singles made the charts in the UK, but only one–this one–cracked the top 20. The album from whence it came, Outland, reached number 16.

Fun fact: Brandon sued Boy George for malicious falsehood after George write in his autobiography that the two of them had a sexual thing in the early 80s, claiming that allegations of him being gay hurt his prospects as a musician. Brandon lost that case. But then he sued over the lyrics in a George song called Unfinished Business where the alleged affair was brought up again. He lost that one, too, and was initially ordered to pay £200,000. That was later reduced to about £20,000. When he was portrayed by an actor in the TV biopic of Boy George Worried About the Boy in 2010, he kept his mouth shut.

The group was formed in London in 1982 and is still active. Their most recent album, Ghost Population (their 15th!), came out in 2022.

© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

For the last couple of posts, we’ve been looking at performers who died while onstage. Our list picks up with Deven Clifford. He was the drummer for the indie band You Say Party! We Say Die! On April 16, 2010, he stopped playing and hit the floor stone dead. The band dropped the “We Say Die” part of their name after that.

Guitarist Mike Saccaia who played with industrial bands like Ministry and Rigor Mortis, collapsed and died of a heart attack onstage in 2012.

Four of the five members of a Romanian metalcore band called Goodbye to Gravity died when their pyro set off a fire in the club where they were playing.

And former Megadeth drummer Nick Menza was playing with his band OHM when he suffered a fatal heart attack.

Am I done? Not yet. More next time.

© 2025 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Sujan “SOHM” Khanal is originally from Nepal. He’s now living in LA making music like this and composing for film. He’s moved from folky stuff with his 2002 debut album to something more rocky for two more recent EPs,

If you’ve ever made some bad decisions that you’ve later come to regret this is the song for you.

© 2025 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Canada is experiencing a “concerning increase” in extremism but does not need to raise its terrorism threat level, according to CSIS.

Despite a series of attacks and disrupted plots, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said the threat level would remain at “medium.”

CSIS Director Daniel Rogers approved the decision last Thursday, a spokesperson for the intelligence agency said in a statement to Global News.

“While the threat environment has evolved over the last decade and increased in recent years, the threat of a realized attack has not risen significantly,” CSIS said.

CSIS released its statement in response to a Global News story about mounting terrorism arrests across Canada, many related to ISIS.

Just in the last six months, the RCMP has stopped two ISIS-related attacks, as well as bomb plots in Calgary and Ottawa in 2023.

Meanwhile, Jewish institutions have been targeted with gunshots and firebombs, and Canada has seen open support for groups such as Hamas.

The National Terrorism Threat Level is used to determine what responses are needed to prevent attacks.

It is based on the recommendation of the government’s Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre (ITAC).

“There is no doubt that CSIS and ITAC are seeing a concerning increase in the volume of ideological, political and religious extremist rhetoric and activities,” CSIS said.

But it said the government had “effectively managed the threats,” and those planning violence were “successfully disrupted.”

Canadian authorities are also getting better at using terrorism charges and peace bonds to prevent attacks, CSIS spokesperson Lindsay Sloane said.

“All of these factors together lead to Canada’s national threat level remaining at medium, which is in line with the threat levels issued in the Five Eyes partner countries.”

Medium means an attack “could occur,” and “high” means one is likely while “critical” means highly likely.

Canada has not changed its threat level in more than a decade and has not released an annual public threat report since 2018.

“In the last five years, Canada has also not experienced realized terror attacks by a person under active investigation,” the CSIS spokesperson said.

But several attacks occurred during that period.

In 2021, ISIS supporters carried out a mass shooting at a Mississauga restaurant. A week later, an extremist rammed a Muslim family with a truck in London, Ont., killing four.

The following year, two brothers harbouring what authorities described as “anti-government beliefs” shot six police officers on Vancouver Island.

An attacker stabbed a bus passenger in Surrey, B.C., in 2023, and then allegedly phoned 911 to say he had done it for ISIS.

A gunman who had penned a manifesto about everything from water quality to Gaza stormed Edmonton City Hall in 2024.

In a Jan. 8 report, Insight Threat Intelligence, a firm headed by former CSIS analyst Jessica Davis, wrote that Canada had experienced a surge in terrorism arrests, and the threat had “rarely been higher.”

Sloane said the recent jump in terrorism charges was “not strictly an indicator of a rising threat in Canada.”

Far-right groups were only now being treated as terrorist organizations, meaning they were not accurately represented in past data, she said.

Former CSIS officer Andrew Kirsch said a medium threat level seemed reasonable. At that tier, terrorism “requires prioritization and ongoing vigilance,” he said.

But with the government’s focus on foreign interference and elections on the horizon, he asked, “Do they have the resources for all these high priority threats?”

Former CSIS analyst Phil Gurski said the threat level should be based on corroborated intelligence about the number of extremists and their ability to plan and execute attacks.

He questioned whether CSIS was downplaying the threat posed by groups like ISIS at the behest of a government concerned about political optics, noting France raised its threat posture to the highest level last year.

The United Kingdom’s threat level is substantial, meaning an attack is likely, while in Australia, it is probable and in New Zealand, it is low.

The U.S. uses a National Terrorism Advisory System that provides alerts for specific, credible threats. There are no current advisories.

An FBI alert last week warned about possible copycat attacks after an ISIS supporter rammed pedestrians with a truck in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, killing 14.

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca

© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist as the league-leading Washington Capitals won their fifth game in a row, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on Tuesday.

Tom Wilson and Matt Roy also scored for the Capitals (32-10-5) who have earned at least a point in an NHL-high 11 straight games, going 8-0-3 in that span.

“I think that is one of our better games that we played defensively,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I don’t think we gave up very much, couple off the rush yes, but we are never going to play a perfect game. The other team is going to get scoring chances but I don’t think there were many tonight.”

Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry replied for the Oilers (29-15-3) who have lost two in a row on the heels of earning victories in eight of their previous nine.

“We had plenty of opportunities to score especially early in the game,”  Knoblauch said. “Just could not buy one.”

The Oilers were without star forward Connor McDavid, serving the first game of a three-game suspension for cross-checking Vancouver’s Conor Garland on Saturday.

Logan Thompson made 31 stops in net for the Capitals, while Stuart Skinner recorded just 11 saves in the loss for the Oilers.

TAKEAWAYS

Washington: Dubois now has 38 points in 47 games this season as he continues to bounce back strongly from a tough year in Los Angeles last season, where he recorded just 40 points in 82 games with the Kings. Dubois was traded to the Capitals by Los Angeles for Darcy Kuemper last June.

Oilers: Draisaitl scored his league-leading 34th goal of the season. Draisaitl extended his points streak to seven games and hit the 70 points mark. It was the 29th time in his career that Draisaitl has scored a goal in the first five minutes of a game, passing teammate McDavid’s 28 to move into a tie for second in Oilers franchise history with Wayne Gretzky. He is now just one goal back of franchise leader Mark Messier, who had 30.

KEY MOMENT

Washington made it a 3-1 game less than four minutes into the third period as Lars Eller slid a backhand through Skinner’s legs that went off the post but came out to an untouched Dubois who slammed home his ninth of the season. Edmonton was outshooting the Capitals 27-11 at that point.

KEY STAT

Edmonton came into the game with a 17-3-3 record when scoring first, but the Capitals have proven to be the best team in the league at staging comebacks. They are now 15-5-2 when allowing the first goal of the game.

UP NEXT

Capitals: Visit the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

© 2025 The Canadian Press

TORONTO – Veterans Bruce Brown and Kelly Olynyk hopped off the bench to save the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday.

Brown and Olynyk didn’t lead the Toronto scoring in the Raptors 109-93 win against the Orlando Magic, but they provided a much-needed spark in the first half.

The Raptors (11-32) trailed by as much as 21 points in the first quarter. But thanks to the play of their bench they overcame the huge deficit for their biggest comeback of the season.

“That’s our job,” Brown said. “Some games you don’t need the starters to lift us up.”

Brown and the Canadian Olynyk not only provided offence with 15 and 12 points, respectively. They set up their teammates with Brown checking in for five assists to Olynyk’s three.

They rebounded and Olynyk blocked four Magic attempts for his highest total in a game since 2018.

“Turning back the clock,” Olynyk remarked smiling. “Those were the good old days.”

This was the first time the Raptors had overcome a 21-point first-quarter deficit to win since a Jan. 22, 2014 outing against the Dallas Mavericks.

The Raptors bench outscored Orlando’s reserves 41-11 as both Brown and Olynyk scored 10-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time this season.

“Bruce was able to help us get back in the game with some deflections and steals and score some points for us,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said.

The Raptors fell behind the injury-depleted Magic 10-0 in the opening three minutes, trailed 16-3 and 32-11 with 4:12 remaining in the first quarter.

Orlando started with 6-for-6 shooting and a hot start by offensive standout Paolo Banchero, who scored eight points in the opening 12 minutes and finished with 26 overall.

Scottie Barnes got stingy with his defence on Banchero to give the Raptors a chance for the comeback before 18,284 at Scotiabank Arena.

“I think Scotty really tightened the screws,” Olynyk said. “That kind of forced him into some tougher spots. (Banchero) is tough to guard. He’s strong, athletic, a force.”

After a slow start, RJ Barrett finished with 19 points, while Barnes was good for 17 more and 11 rebounds. The Raptors scored a whopping 40 third-quarter points to win their third in four outings.

The injury-depleted Magic (23-22) dropped their fourth in a row.

Orlando has been decimated by injuries as Franz Wagner (torn right oblique), Jalen Suggs (low back strain), Goga Bitadze (concussion protocol) and Moe Wagner (left knee) remained out. Gradey Dick of the Raptors scored 17 points on the strength of a 10-point third quarter.

Besides Banchero’s game-high 26 points, the Magic received 20 points from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and 17 from Anthony Black.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2025.

© 2025 The Canadian Press

TORONTO – After a slow start, RJ Barrett finished with 19 points, while Scottie Barnes was good for 17 more and 11 rebounds to help the Toronto Raptors handle the Orlando Magic 109-93 on Tuesday.

The Raptors’ (11-32) offence heated up for 40 third-quarter points to win their third in four outings. The injury-depleted Magic (23-22) dropped their fourth in a row.

Gradey Dick scored 17 points on the strength of a 10-point third quarter at Scotiabank Arena.

Canadian Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown Jr. enjoyed strong games off the bench with 12 points and 15, respectively.

Paolo Banchero led the Magic with 26 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s 20 and Anthony Black’s 17 points.

Orlando has been decimated by injuries as Franz Wagner (torn right oblique), Jalen Suggs (low back strain), Goga Bitadze (concussion protocol) and Moe Wagner (left knee) remained out.

The Raptors overcame a dismal start that put them behind 10-0 before the game was three minutes old. But the home side kept chipping away.

Barrett’s first field goal of the game, a three-point jumper with 7:58 remaining in the half, pulled the Raptors to within 39-37. But Orlando led 50-45 at the half, only to see the Raptors turn it on for an 85-70 lead after three quarters.

TAKEAWAYS

Raptors: The Raptors were without defensive specialist Ochai Agbaji (lacerated right hand). Immanuel Quickley (left hip strain) continued to nurse his ailment, while Chris Boucher returned from his illness.

Magic: Caleb Houstan of Mississauga, Ont., and Toronto’s Cory Joseph, a former Raptor, came off the bench for Orlando. Houstan played 26 minutes to Joseph’s 12. Each scored three points.

KEY MOMENT

Raptors point guard Davion Mitchell nailed a driving layup with 6:52 remaining in the third quarter for their first lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

KEY STAT

Orlando entered the game with the lowest point-per-game total among the 30 teams at 104.2, but the Magic have been second-best in points allowed at 104.3 per game.

UP NEXT

Magic: Host the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday.

Raptors: Visit the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2025.

© 2025 The Canadian Press

Jack Pridham and Trent Swick each had a goal and an assist in a 5-2 win by the Kitchener Rangers as they handed the London Knights their first regulation loss since Dec. 14.

The loss by London ended a run of 11 straight games that saw the Knights go 10-0-1.

After each team skated through a power play without scoring the home town Rangers found the back of the night net when Jack Pridham forced a turnover deep in the London zone, zipped behind the Knight net and found Kitchener captain Matt Andonovski coming off the right point and the Senators prospect one-timed a shot past Alexei Medvedev at 17:38 of the opening period.

Kitchener increased their lead to 2-0 when Cameron Mercer converted a Chris Grisolia feed on a short-handed 2-on-1 just 1:59 into the second period.

Landon Sim cut that lead in half when he lifted a rebound past Ranger goalie Jackson Parsons at the 12:47 mark of the second.

Easton Cowan assisted on the goal to stretch his point streak to 61 consecutive regular season games.

London tied the game just over two minutes later when Jacob Julien slid a pass across the slot to Blake Montgomery and Montgomery connected for his 18th of the season.

Kitchener jumped back in front on a late second period power play goal by Jack Pridham and took a 3-2 lead into the final 20 minutes.

Tanner Lam poked in a rebound to the right of the Knight net just under three minutes into the third period to make it 4-2 for the Rangers and then Trent Swick iced the game with a short-handed goal into an empty net.

The shots in the game were 30-30.

London was 0-for-4 on the power play.

Kitchener was 1-for-3.

Easton Cowan equals Mario Lemieux

Easton Cowan has now recorded at least one point in 61 regular season games. That feat that goes back over two seasons has now tied something Mario Lemieux did in 1983-84.

Lemiux played in 70 games that year and amassed 282 points. (That is still a Canadian Hockey League record.) Lemieux was held scoreless only once and it didn’t happen until Feb. 26, 1984. That was exactly 61 games into Lemieux’s ear with the Laval Voisins.

Lemieux’s Voisins advanced to the Memorial Cup that year but could not get through the Kitchener Rangers, the Ottawa 67’s or the Kamloops Jr. Oilers. Ottawa ended up defeating the Rangers that year in the Memorial Cup final.

Up next

The Knights will go north for three games in four days beginning on Jan. 23 in North Bay against the Battalion.

London will play the Wolves in Sudbury on Jan. 24 and then head for Sault Ste. Marie for an afternoon game on Jan. 26.

After three straight appearances in the Eastern Conference Championship, North Bay has made moves toward the future.

They traded one of their top lines from last year in Anthony Romani, Dalyn Wakley and Ilderton, Ont.’s Owen Van Steensel to  the Barrie Colts. Parker Vaughan of St. Thomas, Ont., was part of the return. Vaughan was the fifth overall pick in the 2024 OHL Priority Selection.

Coverage of the game between the Knights and the Battalion will start at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.

© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

It is stunning how difficult it is to get out of a hole in the NHL, and into a playoff spot, with the abundance of three-point games. The Montreal Canadiens have the best record in the league in the last month, but when the clubs they are trying to catch keep going to overtime, a loss isn’t a loss.

Finally, on Tuesday night, the Canadiens had a chance to pass the Boston Bruins and move into the second wild-card with a win over Tampa Bay, but the Lightning always play Montreal tough.

This time, though, the Canadiens somehow found a way for a 3-2 win.

Wilde Horses 

Lane Hutson has added yet another record to his rookie season. Hutson counted an assist on the first Canadiens goal. It was a point in his ninth straight game. It ties the all-time record for consecutive games with an assist for a rookie with Shayne Gostisbehere.

The assist was on a Juraj Slafkovsky goal on the power play, and what a terrific moment it was for the number one overall pick. Slafkovsky was at the side of the net with the great Andrei Vasilevskiy in the Reverse VH to make the stop.

The hole that Slafkovsky had to find was about the size of a puck, and he found it for his seventh goal of the season. Slafkovsky is continuing his improvement. He’s using his size, protecting the puck with his reach, leaning into his checker for space and using that space to find options. He is considerably better in the last three weeks. Improvement happens quickly when you’re 20.

Two minutes after Slafkovsky’s magic, the Canadiens tied it on an absolute bullet from the high slot from Alex Newhook. Newhook is an effective player when he uses his speed. Laine had an assist on both goals. Once again, Montreal was competing against one of the league’s best teams.

This was always going to be a tough one for the Canadiens, considering the huge amount of hockey they’ve played recently. Halfway through, they were still in the battle.

In the third period, they had to conjure up more energy than seemed possible. They did not have that energy, but Sam Montembeault stopped chance after chance, trying to keep Montreal alive.

This was the first game that the Canadiens were outmatched in a long time, and simply it was because of fatigue. The Canadiens were outshot 35-22. The spirit was willing, but the body said no.

And yet.

They found that one moment of energy with 2:15 left. The best fourth line in the NHL had Josh Anderson on it late, in place of Owen Beck, in place of Emil Heineman. Anderson pushed it on the right half-wall to Joel Armia who found a late-arriving Jake Evans.

Evans continued the best season of his career by one-timing a shot into the top-shelf for the go-ahead goal. They were dead men walking, but somehow they found a way to win again. Of all the wins on this run, this was the most courageous. The Montreal Canadiens are in a playoff spot.

Wilde Goats 

While the Canadiens had a difficult time finding energy in a too-busy schedule recently, another negative was a third-period injury to Kaiden Guhle. It seemed like a fairly innocent moment when Josh Anderson skated in the vicinity of Guhle.

Guhle went down hard holding his left elbow. It’s not a place that one usually has an injury. It’s also a place where a stinger is possible. It’s more a football injury, but it can happen in hockey as well. Guhle looked to be in tremendous pain as he left the ice.

Guhle is a tough player and he fought through it to return to action. The entire night was a fight for Montreal in trying to keep pace with the Lightning, especially in the third period, when the Canadiens simply did not have any legs. They kept fighting, so the only goat is the schedule-maker, because this has been a grind the last three weeks.

Wilde Cards 

October looked so dark. The Canadiens were last in the league. Few had any faith that a brighter day was coming. Fewer still thought it could be coming as soon as now. However, at this moment, so much is going right.

In Montreal, the Canadiens are in the mix for a playoff spot. The Laval Rocket are flirting with first place in the North Division of the American Hockey League. The best story, though, might just be in Russia.

According to ESPN, the best prospect not playing in the NHL today is Ivan Demidov. He is in the midst of the best draft-plus-one season in KHL history. That honour, currently, is held by Matvei Michkov with 41 points in 48 games.

In action this afternoon, Demidov scored one of the best goals this entire season in Russia. He undressed the defenceman with a one-on-one move going skate-to-stick, then he went upstairs with a backhand deke. Demidov also added a world-class assist with a gorgeous cross-ice pass to a wide open SKA player. This excellent contest for Demidov was against the league’s best team Lokomotiv.

Demidov is on a considerable run since Canadiens management visited St. Petersburg hoping to get him some more ice time. In the last 11 games, Demidov has 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points. Outstanding numbers in the league, never mind for a 19-year-old.

Where Demidov stands out in a shocking manner is in points-per-game per 60 minutes played. It’s an important marker, because it factors in how much ice time that a player actually gets. Demidov for much of the season has played games where he gets only five minutes of ice.

Five minutes counts as a ‘game played’ but it’s quite a lot different than a game played with 20 minutes of ice. The stat PPG per 60 recalibrates it fairly. Demidov has 4.02 points per 60 this season. He would pass Kirill Kaprizov for the best-ever season of PPG/60 for a u19, if his pace continues. Kaprizov had a 3.32. Michkov had a 3.02 for third best.

Demidov has played 45 games this season counting 16 goals and 21 assists for 37 points. When the final numbers are in, Demidov will be the greatest 19 year old scorer in Russian history.  All he needs to do is keep getting ice time like the 20 minutes he had Tuesday.

Considering he is the top plus/minus player on the club at plus-22, that shouldn’t be an issue.

Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.

© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.